The Southwest Ohio Folklore Project Is Now Available

By Molly Gullett

Over the last four months I have had the privilege to work with and organize the contents of what is now the Southwest Ohio Folklore Collection. Created by Edgar Slotkin, professor emeritus of English, as student assignments for his folklore courses, the SWOFC has documents from as early as 1974 and as recently as 2011.  It features over six hundred papers on topics as diverse as nursery rhymes and epitaphs as well as prison slang and love songs. The collection also features a handful of photographs, scanned images and booklets. Housed in the Urban Studies archive of the Archives & Rare Books Library, the SWOFC is made up of an array of collections from a wide span of ethnic groups and cultures.  With the impetus provided by Professor Slotkin’s donation, this body of folklore is viewed as a dynamic, sustainable collection that will be augmented in the years to come.  As such, the contents make it a valuable resource for researching the diverse cultures of southwestern Ohio.

The Southwest Ohio Folklore Collection is now available for use in the Archives and Rare Books Library. A web exhibit and finding aid is also online: . http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/exhibits/swofc/index.html.

For more information about the collection, the Urban Studies archive, or other holdings of the Archives & Rare Books Library, please visit us on the 8th floor of Carl Blegen Library, email us at archives@ucmail.uc.edu, telephone us at 513.556.1959, or view our website.

Plotting Coordinates = Adventures in the Subway and Street Improvements Digitization Project

By:  Angela Vanderbilt

The proposed subway route crossed through several neighborhoods north and west of downtown Cincinnati, as did the street improvement projects of the 1920s – 1950s. Whether the project involved razing a bridge over the canal to make room for bulldozers or digging trenches to lay new sewer lines before paving streets, the photographers captured these streets and neighborhoods in their images, and noted the location in the majority of photographs.

As mentioned in the blog “A Changing Landscape”, negatives of the subway project have date and location information written along the outer edge. When printed, this information is not visible. But later photographs, and the majority of street improvement photographs, have this information directly within the frame of the image, which was made visible when printed. Generally located in the lower left corner, this information provides the viewer with a quick and easy point of reference. Continue reading

Need More Time to Study for Midterms?

owlLangsam Library to Offer Extended Hours until 2am.

After the regular Langsam hours listed below, library space only will be open for students to study until 2am during midterms. To enter the library after the regular closing time, students must do so via the 5th floor UCit@Langsam card-swipe entrance (a valid UC ID is required). Continue reading

Records Management Workshops Scheduled

By:  Janice Schulz

Records ManagementThe next Introduction to Records Management workshops will be held February 19 and February 21, 2013.

During this workshop we will discuss the benefits you will receive from efficiently managing your records, UC’s records program, your role as a keeper of public records, the definition of a “record,” how to perform records inventories, the development of records retention schedules and proper means of records disposal. Also, Alecia Trammer, Human Resources will provide information regarding the policies and procedures for maintaining personnel records.

Both sessions will be held in Blegen Library’s Marge Schott Seminar Room, room 814, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. The workshops are free, but registration is required. You only need to register for one session; the same information will be presented at both.

Register here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SWB5KB7. When you see SurveyMonkey’s “Thank you for taking this survey” page your registration has been sent.

Who should attend?
These workshops are for new records officers who have not been introduced to records management at UC and existing records officers who need a refresher as well as anyone responsible for managing University records.

Would you like these workshops presented in your office? Please contact Janice Schulz at schulz.janice.rm@gmail.com or 556-1958 to schedule a custom workshop geared to the needs of your staff.

 

Behind the Lens = Adventures in the Subway and Street Improvements Digitization Project

By:  Angela Vanderbilt

As I’ve mentioned in earlier blog postings, the identity of the subway and street improvements photographer – or more likely, photographers, due to the 30-year time span of the collection – was not known at the outset of our digitization project. As more negatives are sent for scanning, we’ve gotten closer to revealing the identity.

Just last week, our scanning service came across a negative with “Photo by L.G. Folger” written at the bottom, below the date and location of the photograph. Very exciting news! This same name has also been found on the back of printed photographs. This is definitely a step in the right direction, considering it was found written directly on a negative as well as on prints! Other prints have a round stamp on the back with the information “W.T. Myers & Co., 238 E. 4th St., Cincinnati, Ohio”.

L.G. Folger Signature

Continue reading

The Albert B. Sabin Digitization Project: Featured in The Watermark

Albert B. Sabin

The Winter 2013 issue of The Watermark, which is the quarterly publication of the Archivists and Librarians in the History of the Health Sciences (ALHHS), features an article on the Albert B. Sabin digitization project. This article is based on my presentation at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference October 2012 meeting. Continue reading